The Temple for Old Testament Jews was everything. It was the economic, political and religious centre of life. But more even than this, it was seen as the dwelling place of God in earth. We hear in the Psalms often that the entire earth belongs to the Lord, He has chosen Zion as His dwelling place. The Temple was the place where heaven and earth met, where the garden of Eden was re-established, where the harmony between divinity and humanity was achieved (at least in principle). The prophets reminded the nation constantly that the Temple in its rituals has been perverted, that corruption has crept in, that false gods were even worshipped there. So the tension runs through the Old Testament. How beautiful the Temple is, but how perverted. This was the reason why one of the prevalent messianic expectations was that the Messiah would cleanse and purify the Temple in Jerusalem. This is exactly what Jesus is doing in today’s gospel account. He is trying to turn the Temple once more into the house of prayer, into what it meant it to be.
Now let us take a further step. St. Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus, lived many years in Jerusalem. He was well versed in the traditions of the fathers and he knew the rituals of the Temple. But now he writes to his readers in Corinth (first reading for today- 1Cor.3) that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. What Paul alludes here is that the true dwelling place of God is now not in Jerusalem, but it is in the very bodies of the followers of Jesus. That is why he tells in Romans, you should make your bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord. So, Paul who knew the Temple and its sacrifices that were meant to ensure the unity of huminity and divinity says your body is the place where divinity and humanity are met.
Bring this idea of Paul together with the image of Jesus cleansing the Temple. If your body is meant to be a place where God is praised, then every aspect of life is meant to be turned to the Lord, is meant to be a sacrifice unto the Lord. Your mind, heart, will, body, sexuality, family life, entertainment, everything in you is meant to be a living sacrifice of praise unto the Lord.
What if you allowed Jesus with that whip to enter into the Temple of your body? Let him swing that whip, let him knack something over. He will surely make a mess of many things, just like he did in Jerusalem. Whatever in you that is not utterly dedicated to the Lord needs to be reformed, needs to be turned over.
✍️CB